Tim Paine: "When i'm in Tasmania, it's life as it's always been."

26 October 2018

Media Dept for Hobart Hurricanes

Australian captain Tim Paine, sat down with cricket commentator and voice of the Howie Games podcast, Mark Howard, to discuss several facets of the nation's favourite sport including Painey's rapid rise to the summit of the game.

"It is a bit weird, even for me still," said Paine on the realisation that he is now Australia's Test leader.

"I'll be driving to training or just driving on a Saturday somewhere and stop and have a little giggle to myself because of how things have changed and how strange it is."

"I don't think anybody growing up has the goal of being the captain of Australia but I certainly had one of playing Test cricket for Australia."

"I'm really proud to be the captain at time where the leadership over the next 12 - 24 months is really important."

Despite his cricketing career changing its profile in flash, there hasn't been a parallel growth in how the Lauderdale-born gloveman goes about his day-to-day life in Hobart.

"My life hasn't changed one bit," he said.

"I might have the occasional person stop and talk to me, but Hobart being Hobart I kind of knew them anyway."

"It's no different to how it was two or three years ago, they either know me or my brother or they know my dad.

"When I'm in Tasmania, it's life as it's always been."

Paine, who averages 23 at an impressive strike rate of 122.6 in Big Bash, continued to draw on his backyard cricket experience in his early days.

"I grew up about 10 minutes down the road from Blundstone Arena and I was actually in the same backyard or street cricket competition as Matthew Wade."

"My brother actually can't believe he hasn't received a call from the High Performance Centre at Cricket Australia.

"He reckons if he can produce two Test wicketkeepers with a taped up tennis ball then he's got something special."

The talent pathway at Cricket Tasmania was next for Paine, who signed a rookie contract at the age of 16, just a few days after playing a state Aussie Rules carnival for Tasmania and he recalls one of first mates as a professional was Shane Watson.

"He'd (Watson) moved away from his family and I think at the time he was only 19 or 20," he said.

"I was lucky that I was able to get in with him quite early. And the three rookies that year were myself, George Bailey and Xavier Doherty."

Quite a talented trio and soon enough Paine was off to Bangladesh to captain the Australian Under 19 side at their World Cup.

To hear some of his experience - including trying to play PlayStation on that trip with Adam Crosthwaite, Moises Henriques and co, hit the play button on the Howie Games podcast above or download the PodcastOne app.

We'll roll out the best bits in the lead-up to the 2018 KFC BBL|08 Season.